During Maymester 2015, 17 students participated in the Purdue Institute for Civic Communication’s
Washington Program with C-SPAN, developing a mobile game prototype that challenges
Indiana 8th-graders to balance the federal budget. Eric Erli, (political science and philosophy)
and Nicole Korniak (agribusiness) observe as Yuqing “Sunny” Sun (public relations and strategic
communication) wears the Oculus Rift virtual reality system for a 3-D tour of the White House
developed by The Washington Post. Purdue students developed their game, which follows state
educational standards, by working in three interdisciplinary, multicultural teams. “During the
process of developing the game, I deepened my understanding of the federal budget categories
and process for passing the budget,” says technology team manager Sun. “The project helped me
develop my leadership and communication skills, as well as the ability to complete a project on a
tight schedule.” Photo by Katie Cahill.